What will it take for decentralized networks to realize our vision of a radically improved financial system that protects user privacy and increases user agency? In addition to DCI’s focus on open source development and neutral research into the privacy, security, and scalability of decentralized networks, we also believe it will require a robust awareness of the people inside and outside the traditional financial system, their needs, and their perspectives on digital currency’s potential. 

That’s why we are collaborating with Maiden, a non-profit user-research lab, to surface user insights that can inform our work as technologists as well as contribute to the public policy dialogues surrounding digital currencies. We recently completed a US-based user-research study, addressing some of the riskiest and most-common assumptions about prospective digital currency users and use cases.

Project Leadership
Maiden Labs: Shira Frank, Director
MIT Digital Currency Initiative (DCI): Dr. Neha Narula, Director

Report Authors
Maiden Labs: Erin Gjefle, Zach Herring, Cris Kubli, Brennan O’Rear, and Georgia Rakusen

Additional Contributors
CultureCraft (design), Mia Herring (project management), Ray Reichenberg (quantitative analysis), Melissa K. Wrapp (methodology review), Chichi Wu (data and executive assistance), Sumedha Deshmukh, Julie Frizzo-Barker, Robin Marlowe, and Reuben Youngblom (copy editing and review) Funders MIT Digital Currency Initiative with contributions from Citi Ventures, Google, and PayPal